Hmm, to be honest, I don't find this clip too exciting either. The driving physics is hard to judge from this. And I can only hope they reduce the electronics on the S2000 1600T. You can hardly notice this is a turbo. On the gear changes you hardly notice a change in engine note, if you even notice the gear change at all, like the modern WRCars. Just listen to a 206 WRC or an Octavia WRC some 6-7 years ago, they sound so good! I thought the whole point of S2000 base was to get rid of all those electronic helpers?

I don't think the problem is in the transmission as this car is alledgedly running the Sadev setup from the 207 S2000.

The car does look a little "looser" than the current WRCs, but you are right - this has none of the turbo sounds of old. Maybe those days are gone now with modern tech?

I think the gear changes are slower, but the reason you can barely hear them is because they are still changing up at quite low revs so there is not much change in the engine note.

I think the "!600T" rules have massive potential, but they need to make sure they get the engine rules right. Either that or we have to hope the Citroen approximation using the C4 engine is not accurate. For me, they need to decrease the boost levels to make sure they rev higher (so sound more exciting) and that they have slightly less efficient torque so low down. Then the drivers will have to keep them on the boil more and the massive low down torque won't just drag the cars out the corners in a straight line from any speed or revs.

Reading on another forum yesterday, that according to a German website - the engine rules are up in the air. There are rumours about using the current 2.0LTurbo engines in the S2000 chassis. Well, only Ford/Citroen have them.... What is going on?? Utter madness.

Sticking to the 2000cc turbos is only a silly rumour, 1600T is, I am tempted to say, more sure right now than rules are that the FIA has already confirmed but not applied their traditional 3 U-turns yet.

Ron, maybe the Sadev transmission is still too clever. As all the S2000 cars have like joystick gearchanges and even a gearchange on an S2000 is very quick and not that noticable. Maybe it is the modern times, but on a 306 Maxi (to not go as far back as an Escort BDA) you heard gearchanges and in previous WRCar days on a 206 WRC or a Corolla WRC or an Escort WRC you heard them, but nowadays, if WRCars or S2000 there is a distinct lack of sound sensation. I miss some popping noises and some crackling with every gearchange and the sound of a driver who is WORKING his way through a stage.

ChrisB wrote:Sticking to the 2000cc turbos is only a silly rumour, 1600T is, I am tempted to say, more sure right now than rules are that the FIA has already confirmed but not applied their traditional 3 U-turns yet.

Ron, maybe the Sadev transmission is still too clever. As all the S2000 cars have like joystick gearchanges and even a gearchange on an S2000 is very quick and not that noticable. Maybe it is the modern times, but on a 306 Maxi (to not go as far back as an Escort BDA) you heard gearchanges and in previous WRCar days on a 206 WRC or a Corolla WRC or an Escort WRC you heard them, but nowadays, if WRCars or S2000 there is a distinct lack of sound sensation. I miss some popping noises and some crackling with every gearchange and the sound of a driver who is WORKING his way through a stage.

It's only a matter of time before semi-automatic gearboxes will be reintroduced back into the WRC. I'm sure some teams could modify the S2000 gearboxes to allow for a semi automatic shifter.